I Think We All Need A Pep Talk

*in my best Kid President voice* I think we all need a pep talk.

 I wish you could see yourself the way I do. Living, breathing, persevering, you are infinite. How beautiful you’ve been when you rolled out of bed, put your feet to the floor, and tried again anyway. You may not have been able to see it. You may not have been able to feel it. But, you’ve been stretching. This decade thought it broke you, and it did. But, here you are, rebuilt and rebuilding. Across your back, you carried mountains, hardened by rain and wind and sun, until you became one. How majestic you are. Towards the sun, your limbs, your reach has widened. How grateful I am that your heart moves as the sun and your breath rises as divinely as the tides. Your gait, strong. Your breath, steady(ing). Purpose leaping from your being, you found you, and I pray you keep doing just that. 

We’ve had diplomas and degrees and arrests and babies and miscarriages and abortions and businesses and doctorates and deaths and travels and long nights and too much coffee and sunrises and quality (and cheap, CHEAP) liquor and marriages and divorces and car accidents and hospitalizations and homelessness and new cars and great sex (and some bad sex, too) and rejections and acceptances and partners and rivals and pain and tragedy and joy and sunshine and tsunamis and mass shootings and incarceration and workshops and speeches and non-profits and albums and short films and clothing lines and weight fluctuation and reunions and books and brokenness and healing and receding hairlines. Living and loving and being human is what we do best.

I imagine more in this next year of your life. I imagine more of what you have and more of who you are. I imagine we’ll get to see your dreams this year all out in the open, complex and ever changing just like you. I imagine the joy in the ache of growing shoulders big enough to carry all that’s in store for you. I imagine the laughter and smiles of the people you’ll find along your way to help you carry it. I imagine it’ll take more work and pain than you’ve ever had before, and I imagine you’ve never seen anything greater than what’s coming. Most of all, I imagine you happy (don’t forget this part; there will be some joy here for you as long as you still breathe), and I imagine you powerful.

Happy New Year, Tribe!

"In the midst of winter, I found, within me, an invincible summer…No matter how hard the world pushes against me, within me there’s something stronger – something better, pushing right back." - Albert Camus